All this talk about squares and circles has got me noticing things. Now that they’re on my radar, I see these two simple shapes everywhere. I mean, it’s like the world is full of them.
Squares and circles show up at breakfast … in my waffles and pancakes …
… they jump out at me while I’m walking down the street …
… and they even follow me home when I’m sitting down to play a nice game of checkers.
Really. The next thing you know, I’ll start dreaming about them in my sleep….
You’ve got to admit … music just sounds better with chords. And in our last song, it was pretty fun to move between two different chords. But things would have been a lot easier to play if our left hand didn’t have to move so much.
I mean, when we go from playing a C major chord to playing a G major chord in the song “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” our fingers have to travel pretty far down the keyboard. And that can make things a little difficult.
So to work around this issue, musicians sometimes rearrange the notes of a chord. That way, they can easily change chords by moving just a couple of fingers. To see what I mean, check out the following versions of the G major chord:
All three of these chords are actually the same. We can play the same G major chord as “1-3-5” … or as “3-5-1” … or even as “5-1-3.” It really doesn’t matter. We simply call the different versions of this chord “inversions.”
Just like in scales, the strongest and most defining note of a chord is its tonic note (or “root”). And when we play a chord with its root at the bottom, we say it’s in “root position.” For example, the root position of the G major chord is played as “1-3-5” … or G-B-D. This basic arrangement of notes is the most common way to play any chord.
But chord inversions are also pretty popular. And you’ll see them a lot in music. For example, we can easily play the “first inversion” of this G major chord by moving B (note 3) to the bottom. Or we could play the same chord in its “second inversion” by moving D (note 5) to the bottom. Either way, we’re still playing the same G major chord … which you can hear as we play through the following song.
Just like before, our left hand simply moves between a C major chord and a G major chord. But because the G major chord is played in its first inversion (with B—note 3—on the bottom), our fingers have to move a lot less. The shift between the two chords takes much less effort. And that makes the song easier to play.
To get an even better feel for how chord inversions work, try playing the following chords in each key. Just like before, we’re still just playing the same basic major chords. Only now, we’re giving our hands (and brains) a little more exercise. Remember to focus on your fingers and the notes as you play. And don’t forget to stop and smile every once in a while … because your friends are going to be jealous of your cool new skills….
After you’ve had a little practice, it’s easy to add chords to any melody. You just have to play the melody with your right … and hit the chords with your left hand. It’s as simple as that. And this combination of notes makes our music sound a lot more interesting.
But things get even more interesting when we change chords in a song. After all, the C major chord isn’t the only game in town. We can play all sorts of chords to create some very cools sounds. For example, check out the song “Mary Had a Little Lamb” below. By adding an extra G major chord to the mix, everything sounds a little better.
Now that we’ve added another chord, our left hand gets to move a little more throughout the song. And it’s kind of fun. Instead of keeping our fingers in place over the C major chord, we get to move back and forth between C major and G major … like this:
Both chords have the same note pattern of “1-3-5,” so we can keep our left hand in the same basic shape. We just have to move our hands quickly enough to play the correct chord at the start of each measure. Don’t worry if you need to glance down every once in a while … to make sure you’re hands are moving to the right place.
Just like before, try playing each part separately first. Start out by focusing on the melody. Once you’ve played it alone a couple of times, your right hand will be ready. Then play through the chords to get a feel for how they should sound. And when each hand can play its part, try putting them together. The end result will sound awesome.